Ordering FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions.

Thank you for choosing Western Sky Books to order your books!

When we talk about ‘ordering books’ we mean either of two things – 1) that you are making an online purchase through our website or 2) that you have requested we find a new or used book for you and we are working to bring it in to the store for you to buy.

1. How do I pay?

You pay using your using your credit card, cash, or debit in store, or using your credit card or paypal online. The webstore checkout gives you the option to pay at pick up, which you can choose to do when you come in to the store to get your book. We do not ask you to pay for a book we are ordering for you until you come in to purchase it.

2. I have placed an online order. How much is shipping? It is not on my receipt.

We are not in business to make money off of shipping, so we will do everything we can to make sure the shipping costs are as low as possible on each order. Right now, our base rate is $9 per book and $1 per item after that. We will do everything we can to keep the price within that range. If the costs to ship are more, we will let you know before we put your payment through. We will email you with the cost, and the final receipt you receive will reflect the accurate cost of shipping.

3. I want to order a book but it does not show up when I search for it on your website.

If this happens, please call the store, and we will search for it on our end. We do not have accounts set up with all the book distributors yet, so you cannot see books we do not have in store. We will search for the book, confirm the distributor, and then give you timeliness for getting a book in. We are a new store and it takes time for us to build orders, so with most books it will be a while before we get it in.

We also keep a running list of used books people are looking for, so let us know about the book you want, whether you want it new or used, and how urgently you are hoping to receive it. We will do an active search for the book, and will call you when your book comes in to the store. It could take a while, so if you want a book sooner than later, we will make calls and try to find one nearby for you.

4. I ordered a book but I have not heard from you.

We thank you for your patience~ truly. We want to get your books to you as soon as possible; we know how important that is to you. If you have not heard from us, please do call to check on the status of your order – your book could be on back order with the distributor (they are ordering more,) it could be being shipped from another province or the US, or it could be stuck on an order we are building. Your call will help us remember to follow up and we may be able to get your book to you that much quicker, (or maybe not.) But at least you will have the information so you can decide whether to cancel the order with us or keep waiting. If you decide to cancel, we will let you know a few places to look for the book, starting with other indie bookstores. After feedback from customers, we have decided that we will contact you at least once every 3 weeks to give you an update on the status of your order. If you do not expect us to call you that frequently, please let us know, and we’ll put a note to that effect on your customer file.

6. What do the book conditions mean?

We aim to have mostly very good to excellent quality books in the store. This means that the majority of used books we accept for rereading will have little to no wear, or only minor wear, with an occasional inscription or cover/spine crease. If a book is marked fair, it has signs of wear, spine creases, minor tears etc. This is reflected in the price of these books. So we might have a book where we have two in stock – one will be fair, the other very good. The difference in price will be based on the condition of the book.If you are looking at a book on the website and it does not have a condition listed, it is a new book.